Identity Crisis
by Wolvertique
Summary: Sabertooth makes a connection at a bar, which turns into something more. Rated R for ... come on. This is about SABERTOOTH. :)
1. Identity Crisis

Author's Note: Finally, I'm back, and I posted the end of this story. When I'm cross-posting one story in several locations, it's easy to forget that hey, I needed to post it at Fan Fiction too. ::blush::

I wrote this story based on a funny one I wrote, posted on Adult Fan Fiction, "The Great Goddess Jean Grey." In it, the female X-men hook up with some of the X-villains, including a Sage/Sabertooth pairing where the two were familiar and loving with each other. The idea of those two somehow winding up together intrigued me, so I decided to try to write a believable story about how they got and stayed together. I'm glad to see that at least my fans here think I did a tolerable job of it.

* * *

What the hell am I doing here? It doesn't seem right, lying here with a woman in my arms, gazing up at the stars. I don't belong in romantic movies. I'm the shoot 'em up, take 'em down type. 

"There's Cassiopeia," she said, pointing upward, her soft hair on my chest.

I don't bother looking up this time. I'm too amazed that she's here. Hell, that I'm here. But I couldn't stay away when she called. I never can. I'm addicted.

It all started in a bar about eight months ago, when I was trying to get away from it all. Funny, right? Everyone needs a vacation sometimes, buddy, and it was my turn. It was a classier dive than I was used to, but the martinis were perfect and the dart board was free, so I was sipping and throwing when she came in.

She was a pretty thing, long black hair flowing down her back, tight black top outlining her generous front, miniskirt revealing plenty of leg. Her smoky eyes looked over the room and flinched a little when they landed on me.

I have this effect on women, you see.

She turned away to the bar. I watched. The back was just as impressive as the front, sure enough. Perfect curves. She could be an underwear model. Maybe she was.

I took aim at the dart board, sure she'd hook up with someone else there.

I didn't expect her to come over to me, a chilled glass of zinfandel in her hand. "What are you doing here, Victor?"

I threw my dart. It struck the bull's-eye but bounced off. "Don't believe I've had the pleasure, Miss … ?" I let my voice fade. She smelled of fear, sex, and determination, intoxicating scents, and her warmth made me itch. I quickly put my martini to my lips and inhaled the strong scent of alcohol. I was taking a vacation tonight.

"Tessa. I work with the X-men."

Well. Wasn't this night shaping up to be a real pisser. This was all I needed. "Victor Creed. Not working right now."

She rested her arm on the rail I was leaning on. "Really. I had heard you were always working."

I shrugged. "Constant murder and mayhem, despite what your friendly neighborhood Wolverine might say, can get boring."

She gave a little surprised laugh. Kinda cute. "They never told me you had a sense of humor."

I lined up another shot. "Bet 'they' never told you a lot of things, babe." I hit the center of the target again. No bounce, straight into the red. The damned thing lit up and started beeping and everyone else in the bar clapped loudly, some of them standing. I took a bow and my drink, heading over to an empty table behind the jukebox. The woman followed me.

I didn't expect it, but I let her. She sat down, running a narrow finger around the rim of her glass. "So what are you doing here?"

"Drinking. Shooting darts. You?"

She shot me a dark glance and flicked back a strand of hair that brushed across her pale cheek. "I just wanted some time away."

I nodded. "Me, too." The martini was nice, sharpening the edge on my thoughts. "So, why do it with me?"

"Do what?" Tessa took a healthy snort of her wine, coughing a little as it hit home.

"Anything. I'm the psycho killer mutant freak that probably everyone's warned you about, especially that damned Logan. So why are you here talking to me? Shouldn't you be out saving the world instead?"

She giggled. "Teacher, may we be excused to save the world?"

I didn't get it, so I ignored it. "Yeah. Something like that." I downed my martini. Why not? No woman was going to drink me under the table.

She rested her chin in her hand, making a pretty picture through the haze of smoke in the bar. "I don't know if I should tell you. I haven't told anyone yet."

"What?" She was playing games with me, but I wasn't worried. I could end it all with one quick slice if I had to.

She got up from the table and looked down at me. "Do you really want to know?"

I rolled my eyes and stood. "No. I always ask people questions I don't want the answers to, little X-freak."

She didn't change her stance or her expression, but her scent did. I took a deep breath of her growing lust and growled a little. "Come with me, big freak."

She walked out the back to the alley. I couldn't believe it. "You know you're asking a murderer to be alone with you, in a place where you can't count on Charlie's boys to come in and save you." I stood in the doorway.

She turned, mist wreathing her form, and put a delicate fist on her hip. "Are you going to promise to behave?"

I walked up to her, bent down, and laughed in her face. "Never."

Tessa shrugged. "Okay." She walked further into the alley. "Are you coming?"

She was nuts. But so was I, according to most people. I followed her swaying rear to the end of the street. She took my hand and pulled when I would have kept on walking. "I have a small apartment here. Please come up."

She led me up unstable, fragile stairs to an overwhelmingly smelly hallway. I covered my nose with my hand. "You know that second stair from the bottom's gonna break some time this week."

"Yes." She gingerly walked over to #301 and pulled a key from the small black bag she clutched under her left arm. "Come in."

The place was barely furnished. There was a basic small kitchen, never used, a table and two folding chairs in the next room, and a futon-couch in the third. I sat down on it and waited. She dropped her bag on the table, picked up one of the chairs, and joined me in the third room. Its walls were plain and white, bare of anything but a few nail holes. It smelled of her, dust, and emptiness.

She stared at me. I let loose a little of my tension, stabbing into her futon with my left hand. "So what's wrong? Xavier not paying you enough?"

"No." She considered me, her eyes flickering from my tense hand to my face. "You don't know who I am and what I've done, do you?"

"You haven't exactly made the papers, have you?" She gave a wry grin as I spoke.

"No, I haven't." She relaxed and her whole stance changed from elegant but standoffish to dangerous and sultry. Her face held a look I hadn't seen on a woman's face forever, temptation and excitement. She spoke with a smoky undertone that made my body ache. "You see, Charles recruited me for a long-term underground mission at the Hellfire Club. I spent over ten years with them. Know anything about them?"

I leaned forward. "I might."

Her eyes glistened. "They're rich, powerful, and dedicated to sensuality. They're also evil and want to take over the world, but who doesn't?" She uncrossed her legs, sliding her right thigh onto the seat slowly. It was heady. "The thing is, I don't think anyone yet has asked me why Charles chose me." She leaned forward and whispered in my ear, each word stinging my brain. "I like the excitement. I like being stared at, wanted, dreamed of. I like knowing any second I could fall off the edge and get caught."

"So what's the problem?" I purred into her ear. She drew back a little, teasing, and I pulled her back to me. I liked the way she warmed my body.

"I can't exactly dress in nearly nothing around the X-men, now, can I? I can't go on every mission and, of course, many of them are deathly dull." She stroked my cheek. "But you wouldn't know about that, would you?"

I gently bit her nose, relishing in the electricity it created between us. "Maybe. I did work for the CIA once. And I had to work with the runt." I paused, releasing her. She sat back and stretched. "Why didn't you just go with him? He's pretty much everything I am." I didn't try to keep the bitter anger from my voice, punching my claws into the futon again. Damned Logan got everything I ever wanted without even trying, friends, lovers … everything.

She set her head on her hand again. "No. He's too restrained. He doesn't believe in letting his more … primitive emotions out to dance. Besides, I wanted to try to fit in there. So I repressed everything I was. If I let it all hang out now, no one would ever accept me."

"They accept you now?" I waited.

"Some of them." She coughed. "Of course, Charles knows a little. He knew it would be hard for me to join when it was time to end my assignment. I'm not sure he'd understand everything, though, and he's so repressed himself I don't doubt he might even ask me to leave if I revealed the extent of my discontent." She frowned, resentment throbbing through the air.

"He'd better not. He's got a good operative in you."

"How would you know?" She turned her anger at the X-men on me. I sat back and took it, feeling it inside my head.

"So you're one of his pet telepaths, huh?"

She blinked and some of her energy faded away, along with her presence in my mind. "Sorry. I normally don't project."

"'Sall right." I rubbed my temples. "I've had worse from Weapon X."

She sat motionless for a second, then sat straight up again. "Why did you say I was a good operative?"

I laughed. "Hey, I may be a heartless trained killer. Matter of fact, I am. But I know the spy game, Tess. If you made it for over ten years in hostile territory without discovery, that's damned good."

More of the edge bled away. Funny. I didn't mind too much. "Thank you," she said slowly. "No one seems to appreciate what I did."

"They probably don't get it or don't know." I paused. I hated being fair to that damned goody-good, Logan, but it felt right. "Logan probably would if he knew."

"Why do you keep obsessing over Logan?" She leaped up from her chair and stalked back and forth.

Time to laugh again, so I let it all out. "You want the short version or the long version?"

"Are you a matchmaker or something? I don't want him here. If I did, I'd invite him." She sat down hard, crossing her ankles. "Short will do." She took my hand and bit it, then licked the mark. I growled.

"What was that for?"

Her eyes gleamed in challenge. "I felt like it."

"Did you." I pulled her up by her shoulders to my eye level, her feet dangling above the floor. "What if I did what I feel like doing?"

"What do you want to do, Vic?" She flicked her tongue at me and waited.

"Can't you tell?" My eyes glowed. I gave her my usual creepy smile, the one that makes everyone back off. She gave me a confident grin back and swept her mind through my head.

"Yes, I can."

"Bitch." I let her down. "You're no fun."

"Really?" She stayed where I'd put her, just inches from my body. "You'd better go, then, if I'm so boring."

"Tess?" I sat and pulled her down to my level on her knees. She let me, not fighting this time.

"Yes?"

"Why me?" I searched her face. I couldn't figure it out.

She looked deep into my eyes. "Maybe because I'm a danger freak. Maybe because you understand. Maybe because you're the first person who's ever offered me a compliment for what I did without being asked." She leaned in. "Maybe because I'm really horny." She stayed there, so close, smelling so damned good. "Those good enough reasons?"

"Oh, yeah." I pulled her in and savaged her mouth. She gave as good as she got, biting my tongue with enough force that I howled a little from the pain. As I concentrated on her neck, she yelped. "Why are you doing this … ow!"

I grinned, my teeth tinged with a little of her blood. "I'm Sabertooth. That's always a good enough reason."

"You certainly are," she whispered, drawing me back down to her neck. "I didn't say stop, Victor."

Well, now. This must be my lucky day. I licked the wound a little more, then tore her clothes off and pushed her to the ground. She looked up at me, hungry, and watched as I bent down, tasting her. She was sopping wet, more than ready. I'd be surprised if she hadn't already come once, though I'd think I would have noticed if she did. I nipped her breast on the way back to her mouth, quickly opened my pants, and sank into her willing body as I licked the blood from her neck and collarbone. The combined taste, blood and desire, made me shudder. She was fairly tight, but the wetness made up for it, and pretty soon she was begging me to keep going.

I love hearing women beg. The fact that I hadn't had to hurt this one – much – was an added bonus.

She shivered around me, squeezing me tight, and I let it all loose with a shout that probably didn't add to her popularity with her neighbors.

Afterward, she rested on my chest, my arm wrapped around her. I felt oddly content, at peace. "So why?"

"Why what?" I tipped her chin up and looked into her amused eyes.

"Why the obsession with Logan?"

"I …" Damn it, the woman had to ask the most awkward questions. "It's just something we do, I guess."

She wouldn't let it go. "Why?"

I thought about it for once. "He just … All right. You ever seen a dog go into a room and just raise his hackles at someone?" She nodded. "I guess we're like that. Too much alike in some ways, not enough in others." I paused. "Plus, you know, there's the whole 'me, bad psycho killer; him, guardian angel samurai' thing."

She stroked my beard. "That explains his obsession with you, not yours with him."

I let it go. "Yeah. I guess."

She sighed and snuggled into me. I wasn't sure how to deal with it. Part of me wanted to beg her to stay and part wanted to run.

Eight months later, I still don't know how to deal with it. We meet on occasional weekends, we steal away at times and go places, but at the end of the night, she goes her way and I go mine. Sometimes I think about breaking it off. She's a liability. She makes me weak.

She also makes me whole. Her scent makes me quiver. She makes me sing. You got a problem with that?

Not half the one I do. I guarantee it.

There's the whole problem of what to do if we're discovered. She says she takes precautions. Sure. So did I. But there's always someone out there better than you.

I sigh and lie back with her. She's here now. So am I. That's going to have to be enough.


	2. Another Crisis

I don't call her on her cell phone.

I just don't.

We arrange our trysts other ways. While we're together. Postcards. Letters.

The woman can figure out any puzzle I make for her, and I've been trained in codes.

There's only one reason to call her on the cell.

Unfortunately, I've got it.

****************************

Three days ago, she got back to the mansion from "a trip upstate." Not a lie, not entirely. She had gone on a trip.

The trip had left her with more bites and nip marks, as usual. Victor had been unusually passionate this last time.

Luckily, she usually dressed in a formal fashion, and though it was spring, it was cool. She adjusted the collar of her turtleneck and listened to the parameters of the mission, as well as planning alternate routes, altering her course outline, and in the back of her head, tasting the exciting promise that next time, he would hunt her down in the wild North.

Just two more weeks.

Her cell phone rang. Startled, she answered it. "Tessa."

"I got a reason."

She paused. "Good."

"Same place as before. Ten minutes. I know you can make it."

She closed her phone. "Pardon me." She got up to go, putting the agenda in her briefcase and giving a brief nod to the other X-men in the room.

"Somethin' serious?" Logan had been following her closely, particularly after this last encounter. Perhaps she had not washed off enough of the blood afterward.

She projected her usual cool, businesslike demeanor. "No, but it requires my immediate attention. Excuse me."

She felt his gaze on her body, burning through her clothes, as she hurried to her room. Unfortunately, in order to be dressed properly, she had to wear shoes which restricted her movement. She kicked them off and threw the briefcase in a corner, slipping on an old pair of tennis shoes instead and tossing her jacket onto the bed.

__

Tessa. Charles' cool mental touch came, as expected.

__

Charles. She nearly ran down the hallway from the women's dormitory. Logan was standing at the stairs as she came, wild eyes watching her.

__

What is it?

__

Personal business. She infused her mental touch with some of the wild throbbing she felt inside, the urge to run on the edge, as well as a tinge of sexuality. _Nothing too serious, but I need to go now and bleed off some energy._

He withdrew, almost instinctively, as he always did when confronted with the intimate knowledge of his teammates. _I see. Please inform me when your task is complete._

__

I will contact you by the end of the day. If I do not, come for me. She broke off the link sharply and burst through the front door, nearly slamming it into Rahne Sinclair, who had been standing outside laughing with Jamie Madrox.

She did not apologize. She ran past the startled couple and heard their exclamations as she sped over to the motor pool. This would require greater speed than she could muster on foot.

***************************

I waited in the apartment. She had a few more things in it now. A chair in the living room. Microwave food in the freezer. Changes of clothes in the dresser. Strongly scented lilac and patchouli soaps and candles in the bathroom.

Couldn't have Logan finding out about us, now, could we?

I snarled, trying to keep from smashing something as I paced. Cataloguing scents was about all I could come up with.

She had to come soon. I'd given her ten. If she wasn't doing anything, she'd be here in two minutes. If she had been, she'd be out in seven.

Maybe I should eat something. I hadn't eaten for … well. Twenty four hours.

I fished out a packaged meal and read the instructions carefully, keeping myself from slashing it open with an effort.

Hm. Time was, I'd have slashed it wide anyway and ruined the place.

I sat, paying no attention to the sesame chicken that was scattering everywhere on the hard kitchen floor.

What was she doing to me?

**************************

She parked in the lot five blocks away and started running. No one, to her knowledge, had followed her. She did a quick and dirty telepathic sweep of the immediate area anyway. No suspicious blank areas where there should be people, no recitations of meaningless nonsense, and nothing but ordinary thoughts of ordinary humans.

She kept running and hoped she'd made it in time. She had no time to look at her watch. She vaulted the stairs, avoiding the broken second step, and flung her apartment door open.

He was sitting on the kitchen floor. Bits of rice and orange sauce surrounded him on the floor. A box of "authentic" Chinese chicken lay at his feet, with more rice and orange bits inside. He looked up at her approach. "Tessa."

She swallowed. "Victor." She locked the door, triple locked it, then moved forward, dropping her usual reserve. "What has happened to you?"

His eyes stopped at her shoes. "It's after Labor Day," he said, faint surprise in his tone.

She waved her right hand impatiently. "Why did you call?"

He rose to his full height, his own suit wrinkled from his former posture, his long blond hair settling down his back. He raised a hand, then dropped it with a sigh. "Why can't I kill you?"

She blinked. She hadn't anticipated a question like that. "Let's go to the bedroom. I need a drink."

**************************

I watched her open the Merlot, pour the ruby red liquid into a glass, and toss off half of it in one gulp. Her throat pulsed with life. Again, I tried to imagine ripping through it, drinking deep, but felt the same as I had earlier. Disgusted. Unhappy. Lonely.

She coughed a little, the alcohol stinging on its way down. "Now, tell me again, from the beginning."

I sat on the bed next to her, growling. "Like I said. Someone said something to me this morning, about being willing to kill anyone for a price. I started thinking about you. No price for you. I couldn't do it." I took her hand. She was shaking, her pulse throbbing loud in my ears. "I want to know why."

She closed her eyes. "I could delve into your mind to find out."

"That'd be fine." I let go of her hand. The idea of crushing it in mine disturbed me. Made me feel guilty. Ashamed.

What was wrong with me if I couldn't even do that?

She brushed into my head, smoky and wild. I held my hands together and pressed hard. I didn't like anyone in my head but me.

Still, she felt friendly. Soothing. How many people could I say that about?

She dropped down into my center. Her feelings swirled through mine as she searched. Fear. Anticipation. Curiosity.

Let's just hope this lady doesn't kill this cat.

****************************

She moved into his mind cautiously. It had been trapped and messed with and felt like it, odd places shut off that should be open, places opened that should have been blocked. She moved into the area of his feelings for her.

They were amorphous, shifting from warmth and want to sudden shafts of jealousy and desire. She opened more to his mind, what he thought about her as the feelings sifted through her being. He missed her when she was gone. He thought about her during the weeks they were away. He wrote things down he thought would interest her. He planned things she would like. He smiled at the memory of her joy when he gave her that updateable Palm Pilot she'd wanted.

Good heavens. Victor was in love with her. She paused. How were they going to deal with this complication?


	3. Crisis Averted?

I waited for her to leave my head. I bit the insides of my cheeks to remain calm. Calmer. I raised my hand again, trying to bring it down and snap her neck.

Her lovely neck.

I felt the guilt and shame flooding my body again. What the hell was wrong with me? I'd killed people before without a thought. Better looking ones.

She looked at me. I put my hand by my side, guilty, worried. "You do seem to have a problem."

I waited for her to tell me. She tossed off the rest of her wine and looked up at me, smoky eyes wide with fear. "Victor, you're in love."

I growled and jumped off the bed. "Can't be. I never have been."

Her eyes burned into me, her right hand toying with her almost empty wine glass, a bright red droplet caught in the stem. "Apparently, you are now."

It sizzled along my nerves. Unfortunately, it made sense. A lot of sense. Damn it.

"So, what does that mean?"

She put the glass on the floor and stared at her feet. "What do you want it to mean?"

I wrapped my paw around her chin and raised her head. "Don't go all Zen on me, Tessa. We know about me. How about you?"

She dropped the X-mask, that brisk "Don't touch me" air she put on around the X-men. Her eyes closed. "I might feel the same. I haven't bothered to analyze it." Her eyes hit mine hard when she opened them again. "I've been busy just feeling when I'm around you. Enjoying finally being able to be everything I am. But I don't know what it means. It's not like we can …"

"Do the traditional thing?" I laughed. Yeah. "Imagine the wedding." I snorted.

Course, the idea of a wedding was kinda perversely attractive. I could see the runt's face now.

Her eyes gleamed. "Imagine the kids."

I stopped and looked her over, the image of my ebony-haired lover pregnant doing interesting things to my insides. "I am."

Our eyes locked. The ideas were thrilling. Heady. Hot.

They'd never work.

She pulled her shirt off in one graceful, careless move, exposing the cuts and bites I'd left from our last time together. She traced the nip on her right shoulder. "Why'd you do that?"

I stayed in front of her and dropped to my knees. "I wanted to mark you." I sniffed along her jaw line. "I wanted to claim you before you went back to them." I teased her ear with my tongue. "Before you were swallowed up by other men."

She pulled me against her body, tilting so I could continue playing with her ear. "Then I have to come up with something we can do by the time we meet up in Canada."

"Fine." I picked her up and tossed her back onto the bed. "You're wearing too much."  


***********************************

She smiled, blinking back a few tears. She did not like having to inhibit Victor's passion, but having yet more bite marks would make working with the X-men impossible.

She hissed as the soap hit a tender bite. He'd opened it earlier while he was stroking her body and licking at her. She hadn't minded at the time, but right now it stung.

He wanted children. She had to put her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing, then realized that probably no one could hear her and laughed till she cried. And people of different religious traditions thought THEY had problems when they decided to have them…

What if they got the worst aspects of both parents and were danger freaks with bad tempers?

What if they were furry telepaths?

What if the kids looked like Muppets?

She sighed and reached for her towel.

It was handed to her. She took it, smiling, and reached out with her mind to touch Victor.

__

Hello, Sage. Miss me? It wasn't Victor.

She let her body relax as his hands pressed against her upper chest and his claws extended. "Don't try messing with my head, traitor."

She activated her telepathy and reached out to Charles on their special emergency link while she savored the fear. "I wouldn't dream of it, Logan." _Charles?_

__

Tessa. What is wrong?

Please tell Logan to bring me back to the mansion so I can tell all of you at once.

"Good. Now, want to tell me why you've been coming here to fuck our enemy? A lot?"

__

Very well. I shall see you shortly.

"I have my reasons. I believe all of you should hear them back at the mansion." His arm muscles clenched and she felt his points touch her throat. She hoped they wouldn't puncture her skin. If Victor knew that Logan had cut her neck, the place he loved to bite the most …

He growled and pushed her out of the shower. Good. The skin of her neck remained clear. "Chuck says you'll come back with me and explain everything." His angry eyes raked her body, pausing on the scratches and bites on her lower neck and shoulders, and the bruise at her hip. "Knew you were up to something. The sudden overuse of perfume. How happy you got after your weekends away. The smell of blood the last two times you came back."

She walked into the bedroom and found her uniform lying on the bed. She looked back at the menacing form in her dark bathroom. "Wear it. And no smelly stuff this time. I want everyone to know what I do."

She gave a brief nod and skinned into her uniform, leaving most of the bites and scrapes open to the cool air. The moment of truth was here.

She hated to do it, but he was already involved. She had to let him know.

__

Victor?

Yeah. He was running free. He smelled damp earth and lilacs.

__

They found out.

He paused. _I'll come get you._

__

No! She was frantic. _Just let me try to explain._

He probably wasn't laughing out loud, but his response was overflowing with amusement. _Sweetheart, there are some things ya just can't explain. I'll get you out of this._

__

Don't. Please. I want to try it this way.

I'm not gonna let you get killed because you want to try a "diplomatic solution," Tess. His mental voice was firm.

She sighed in defeat. _Tell you what. I'll make you a deal._

This isn't a game.

No, you're right. It's not. She had to phrase this just right. _I'll go back to the mansion and try things my way, but you track me and come along outside. I know the security measures there and where you can be without tripping them off. I'll keep you inside my head while I'm in there. If I need you…_

__

If I decide you need me, I'm going in there. I'll be listening. She heard a muffled thought of _"women"_ before he settled into the back of her mind.

He itched in there while Logan drove her back to the mansion, getting curious stares from other drivers on the road.

**********************************

So it isn't bad enough that I have to fall in love at all.

I have to fall in love with one of Xavier's.

I have to fall in love with one of Xavier's with a death wish.

About the only thing worse would be falling for Logan.

Yeah it's insane, but some sick fanfiction authors out there have innumerable silly stories where I fall for my son.

Okay, okay. I know I'm not his father.

The illusion that he is, though, the lies implanted by Weapon X, are the only thing keeping me from ripping his head off.

How dare he get so close to her.

How dare he leave his scent on her.

We're going to have to … talk … sometime about that. She's mine.

She's laughing at me now, inside her head. Says I'm silly. Says she wants me, not the runt. Makes some size comparisons that get me laughing.

Damn it.

She disappears inside the house. I try to project an innocent image. Just a simple jogger here, ma'am.

Nothing to fear from me. Nothing at all.

Right.

*******************************************

Keeping her feral lover busy inside her head, trying to find a way out of the mess she was currently up to her eyeballs in, and warding Logan off was keeping Sage's vast mental processes very well occupied. The adrenaline rush had grown as she got closer to the mansion. She was almost relishing being able, for once, to be completely honest with the team.

The usual suspects were all there, other than Remy and Rogue (off somewhere "together") and Bobby Drake (on loan to Alpha Flight). Jamie already had two duplicates, one who was cracking his knuckles and glaring at her while the other was eating a large candy bar. Rahne was in transitional form between wolf and girl. Warren, Betsy, Kurt, Hank, Jean, Scott, and Storm all waited, all ready to strike her down. She heard Logan's claws extend behind her as she entered. Only Charles appeared willing to hear her before arming to the teeth, and only Hank showed visible concern at her injuries.

"Goodness gracious, Tessa. Are you all right?" The blue furry man leaped down from his perch near Charles as she posed, waiting for an invitation before she sat down.

Charles nodded and she sat in the lone chair at the end of the table, the others shoving to get even farther away as she did, other than Jamie's hungry duplicate, who had moved on to a large sub. The original Jamie wrinkled his nose in disgust and ordered his copy to fall back. "I'm very well, Hank. I got all of these because I wanted them." She fingered her wounds gently, humor coming unbidden as he fell back, aghast. "But Charles knew from the beginning how I was. Didn't you, Charles?"

The man nodded. "I was fully aware that you had deep and dark desires, Tessa." His eyes flickered over her and his jaw tensed. "I had hoped, however, that you had found some expression of them which did not require a partner who was so far removed from our goals."

She leaned back in her chair. "I didn't share anything with him that he could use to harm the X-men as a whole."

She gave a faithful summary of their meeting in the bar just over a year ago, the continued meetings, the way she had looked forward to them, the precautions she took … all of it. Her enjoyment of the pain. Desire growing into more. She watched as their expressions shifted from distaste to disbelief, sorrow and disappointment. She waited for a response as she felt him growl inside.

__

I should break you out now.

Wouldn't work. I can't outrun Logan and he's right by me. She kept her amused smirk and looked around. No one wanted to meet her eyes. Jamie's duplicate finished his sub and licked his fingers.

__

I can take care of that problem for ya, little lady. He gave a chilling John Wayne imitation, but he had not yet made a move.

__

Wait.

Scott took a step toward her and attempted a challenging sneer. "So what are you going to do now, get married? Settle down?"

She decided to go with it. "Yes."

__

What?

"What?"

__

Why not? Alex Summers and Lorna made it work. They stayed on as adjuncts to the team …

__

You might have missed it, but I'm no straight arrow Summers.

The room exploded into noise as people argued with Charles or yelled mindlessly at her. She waited, relaxing in her chair. _I know. That's why I … like you._

You were going to say love you.

Changed my mind. Scott pushed down on her arm rests, effectively pinning her, and touched his visor. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't use this."

She shrugged. "Because Victor would come in here and kill or maim people you care about."

Claws threatened her again from behind, pricking into her shoulder blades. She winced at the hot prickly pain and tried to compose herself. "Told you I should have just killed her off."

Charles' cool, controlled mental touch came, as expected. _I shall have to close off your link with Sabretooth, Tessa._

__

Do not. He will take that as a sign that I am in danger.

I am not sure I can probe you with him there.

Do it anyhow.

She licked her lips. "Don't like that one? Okay. It would give Logan far too much pleasure."

Scott nearly forgot himself enough to smile, but cut off the impulse before he could lose his advantage. "Maybe I could call it his Christmas present."

__

What's going on in there? Tess?

Oh, what I might have expected. I'm being threatened, and Charles is probing me. No one has harmed me, though.

Then why'd you hurt?

No reason? She tried a smile herself as Logan growled at Scott for being a cheapskate. She lost it when Charles started firmly going through her memories of the last several hours.

__

Charles! You have always allowed me some privacy … She winced as he touched things she wanted to keep secret, even from herself. Her true desire to marry Victor. Her plans for their trip to Canada.

__

Apparently, I was in error when I permitted you to keep your sexual proclivities secret, Tessa. She could feel some embarrassment from him as he searched, but he was resolved to keep looking.

Victor growled again in her mind. _You're hurting again._

He's probing me.

I don't like it. I'm coming in.

If you come in, you come in unarmed and quiet.

Silence. Scott sniped back at Logan that the man wouldn't know what to do with a good present even if he got him one.

__

Fine.

He broke off telepathic communication.

__

Victor?

Victor?

VICTOR?

He was not there. She panicked, but could not move. Charles had her firmly in hand, Scott and Logan had agreed to discuss Christmas later, and the alarms were going off as Victor approached the mansion. Jamie reabsorbed his gluttonous copy and went with the other, along with most of the other X-men, to capture her lover.

All she could do was remember and hope.

**********************************

I cut her off. She asked for a hell of a lot already.

I was joking earlier about marriage. Yeah, it'd be fun to see the reactions, but the reality wasn't something I was ready for.

I guess she was.

Hmph. Never guessed any woman would want to marry me. Hey, might as well take her up on it.

No time to get married anyway.

I walked around to the front gate.

Never run to your own destruction, right?

I leaped up and over the fence. I knew I tripped at least three alarms on the way in.

I hate the smell of cooking flesh. Especially when it's mine.

I wonder if they'll let me tell her before they kill me that I accepted her offer?

One sure way to find out.

They're boiling in there and burst out to meet me.

Nice to meet the family before you pop the question, isn't it?

I just drop and remember her sweet, throaty voice from this morning, holding my hands ready for the cuffs.

It's just pain. I've had three lifetimes full already.

The blue guy next to me's babbling about how the cuffs do something to my powers. Probably dampen or completely inhibit them. I ignore him and get to my feet.

"I need to see Tessa." I address the guy who seems to be in charge, a hard, aggressive guy with a smaller, wimpier twin standing beside him.

Big Blue starts laughing. So does Wolf-girl and Wings. The wimpier guy clears his throat, but the man I talked to answers. "I'll take you there."

The wimpy guy puts a hand on his shoulder, and he sinks back into the wimp. He sighs. "I didn't know any side of me was that crazy before, either."

So Xerox man isn't in charge. "Who's supposed to be in charge here?"

"My eminently confused captive, I am." Big Blue. Figures.

"So, can I see her, or do you need to lock me up first?"

He turns his head. "I am not in the habit of giving intruders, particularly violent and psychopathic ones, access to any of our team members."

I sigh. "I gotta ask her something."

"Perhaps you should let me ask her in your stead."

I shake my head and walk inside with him. "I'm the only one who asks people to marry me. Sorry."

He blinks. "I had the impression from our earlier dialogue that it was already settled."

I stop walking. "That was informal." And Tessa speaking out of turn. But I don't tell Blue that.

The X-Geeks push me, so I start walking again, though I'd rather gut the lot of them.

He nods slowly. "I shall do my best to persuade Charles to permit you a visitor in your room later."

********************************

When Charles had finished, she was unsettled and sick. Her mouth tasted dry and bitter. She retched, but thankfully did not bring anything up. Scott and Logan were watching her, as was Charles. He silently offered her a glass of water.

She felt dirty. He had been inside her mind, sharing her feelings, her thoughts. She swirled the water inside her mouth to cleanse it.

Silence grated on her. She swallowed and tried for some of her usual calm. "So, any more brilliant ideas, Professor?"

Hm. Apparently, calm was not something she could attain at the moment. She adjusted her goal to "sarcastic hostility" instead.

He looked five inches above her right shoulder and spoke to that point. "I am sorry, but you understand it was a possible security risk."

"I'm tired of understanding." She rose and began pacing restlessly. "I'm tired of waiting and holding back. I don't want what most of you do. I tried, Charles. I really did. But with Victor, I have finally found someone who, instead of recoiling from what I am, embraces it and makes me even more like me."

Logan moved abruptly. Scott leaned against the wall, watching her with the same neutral expression he used for most things. Charles blushed and avoided looking at anyone. "Are you certain we cannot be what you want?"

She laughed, a long, buoyant laugh, and waved a hand toward the group. "Just look at yourself, Charles. You can't look me in the eye. Logan probably is having a hard time restraining himself from just eliminating me. Poster boy for straight and narrow, Scott, couldn't relate to what I said any more than you can. He's truly your son more than anyone else's, isn't he?"

"I resent that," the man said quietly. The corners of his mouth turned down a fraction. "I was planning to wait until we were alone to ask, but I would ask you to stay."

She jerked to a halt and stalked over to him. "Why?"

Charles kept a concerned eye on Scott as the woman confronted him. Scott crossed his arms over his chest and responded, "Because a lot of the kids here think that being different means we'll reject them, too. I'd rather have the X-men be known for who we include, not for the people we exclude."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Ya might have just earned yourself a Christmas present there."

Scott relaxed and let his arms fall to his sides. "Well, you know I live for your approval."

"Who doesn't?" He adjusted his hat and smirked. "So many fans, so little time."

Professor Xavier raised his head and looked at Tessa, really looked at her. He let out a short blast of air. "You know we cannot accept Sabretooth here."

She nodded, looking down at her hands, restlessly moving together before her eyes. She hadn't expected any kind of acceptance, particularly from Scott, and was amazed by Charles' turnaround.

"Perhaps, instead, we can propose a compromise. You drop down to adjunct status. I can always find you if there is need for your particular talents. You could set up a schedule with Scott of … training for our youth who need your capabilities. Your personal life can become … more of a focus, should you choose." Logan snorted and she smiled roguishly as Charles searched for a word to describe her personal affairs.

"My vacation is still coming up." Charles nodded, his skin changing back to its normal hue. "And of course, we will let you know about the wedding. Now, where is Victor?"

Scott's quiet snickers cut off, and he gestured for her to follow him.

The room was silent for a moment, then a guffaw split the silence, followed by a shout of laughter. Howls and sputters filled the empty space as the idea of Sabretooth and a wedding spurred more chortles and gasps for breath.


	4. Crisis Resolution

I was locked in a room in the basement. It was stripped of practically everything.

I tested the wall, just to be sure.

Punching, slashing, kicking, nothing damaged it.

I hate being caged.

I prowled around the room. Smells of engine oil, metal, gas. Old smells.

It was once used for storage.

The cuffs are strong. Very strong.

I tried to calm down and focus on breaking the lock. I thought of her standing next to me, telling me to do it, that she'll be here with me. Gotta get a claw over to the lock. I might need to dislocate a finger for a while to get the job done.

I wanted to hear her tell me she loved me before. My dream-Tessa laughed at me. _Idiot. You should have told me, if that was what you wanted._

Tessa? I was amazed. I had nearly gotten my left index finger over, but I saw I would need to dislocate it. I did, wincing. Wish that healing factor of ours also was a pain dampening factor.

I heard you from two floors up. You're in pain. What did they do to you?

Heh. Someone getting angry for me because I was hurting. It felt kinda strange, but good. Weird.

I put my finger back in place, feeling it heal with a groan of protest. _Nothing._

__

Nothing? She sounded outraged.

__

Same kinda nothing you felt before, sweetheart. I waited for an explanation.

Oh. She paused, but wouldn't tell me what had hurt her. _We're coming to get you out. We're leaving._

The door opened out. I held back, watching as Tessa came in first. Smart move. She held the cuff keys in her right hand. Summers was outside, sweating like crazy.

His scent was on her arms. He had touched her. I started a low rumble in my throat.

He touched my Tessa.

She noticed and paused, reaching out and grasping my hand as I got ready to leap at the man who'd touched my lover. "What?"

I snarled. Her hand was warm. I closed my eyes and inhaled her scent. "He touched you."

She nodded, slow. "It didn't hurt. It was okay."

Faint scent of blood. "Turn around."

She tensed. "I am all right. Don't worry. We're going to get out of here and everything will be fine."

The rumble building in my throat revved up to a full roar. "Turn AROUND!"

Rigid, posed like a doll, she turned for me. I saw the small holes in her costume, the drop of blood falling from one of the six points he'd pushed into her skin.

Logan had touched her.

That made Summers fade away.

Logan had **hurt** her. He had hurt **my** Tessa.

__

No! Victor, you can't. You won't. I won't let you.

Try and stop me. He had drawn her blood. Red rage flared up as I let go of her hand. The runt had gone too far this time.

I wasn't moving. I wanted to. She stood there, hard as iron, turned back around, hand out at her side, using that damned mind of hers to stop Summers from coming any further while she took control of my muscles from me and pleaded with me.

__

Victor, listen. It didn't bother me. He didn't really hurt me. He wasn't challenging you.

She had a knack for getting to the heart of a matter. _How do you know?_

__

Will you stay and listen if I let you go?

I didn't want to promise, but she wasn't letting me loose without it. _Fine. But it better be good._

Summers stood in the doorway, talking into a communicator. Geek. Probably joined partly because he'd get one. And the uniform.

"Victor. I provoked him. I was angry." Her clear blue eyes looked into mine. I felt the heat rising from her skin. "You could feel how bitter I was. I used you as a threat. He reacts to you the way you do to him."

I wanted to rip the runt's throat out. Regenerate that, boy. But her face was pleading with me. She didn't want me to.

Damn all women.

I closed my eyes and let the fire within die down a little. The fire outside, though, rising from her skin, was inviting. I had to choose one or the other. Go after the runt, or wrestle with her.

Guess which one I chose.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her up to my face by it. Her pupils grew wide and that sexy little smile I loved curved her sweet lips. "Gotta make sure everyone knows who you belong to, then." Her other arm wrapped around my shoulder and I felt her nails prick me as I savaged her mouth, drawing blood as I nipped at her. Her mind purred through mine. _You know they're coming._

__

Yeah. The X-freak isn't talking to himself on that thing. Is he?

She began giggling into my mouth. _I got the funniest image, Scott trying to communicate with himself. "Hello? Hello? Am I there? Is this thing on?"_

They all ran in, of course, fired up and ready to go, Logan among them. I deliberately held her closer and ran my large hand over her tasty posterior. _Stop laughing. We need to be serious now._

Probably was a good thing I was, though. I think Scott would have fired and the others attacked if I hadn't laughed. Her breath caught as I wrapped her around me, tight as my skin. She bit my tongue again.

I love this woman.

She pulled far enough away to whisper, "I belong to you, Victor, and you'd damned well better remember you belong to me."

Possessive. I like that.

The others make odd noises, gasps and groans. Someone begins clapping. What the hell, I put her down, gently, and take a half-bow, keeping her body pressed to my left side.

Summers? Summers was clapping?

Some redhead was looking daggers at him. I let out a whoop of laughter. He was so gonna be in trouble.

So I left that day with my Tessa at my side. She'd be going back sometimes. Fine with me. I knew now she'd be coming back.

Especially after our trip North. But that's a tale for another day.


End file.
